ATLAS.ti Forum - Help/FAQ/Tips: Forum Essentials

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Forum Essentials

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Forum Quick Guide

Registration and Login

First and most importantly: you do not need to be registered and logged in to view the contents of all public forums! Simply clicking on http://forum.atlasti.com takes you to the forum overview page and lets you read and search all contributions.

Nonetheless, registration is required to

post contributions,
respond to contributions, and
make use of numerous special features, such as
- subscribing to entire forums and/or individual threads
- viewing and searching other members' information,
- and more

Only NEW users need to register, i.e. register, if you haven't registered before. Normally, you register once and log in using your selected user data upon subsequent visits.

If you check the "Remember Me?" box (next to the login box), your login will be automatic and invisible, so you will never have to type in a password or user name again. Highly recommended! (NOTE: do NOT use the LOGOUT button when quitting, this will "un-remember" you and you'll have to manually login next time after all)

We recommed that you use either your full name (first name, last name), only your firstname, or your email address as your user name. This makes it slightly more difficult to forget your login name....

Of course, people do sometimes lose or forget their login names or passwords. Again, checking the the "Remember Me?" box keeps this from happening.

If you didn't select this option and don't have your password, simply follow the "Forgotten your password?" instructions (two clicks, and you'll be sent a working password).

User Control Panel ('My Control Panel')

Set and control your personal data and your system preferences in the Control Panel ("My Control Panel" in the top menu).

Most importantly: You can completely ignore the Control Panel if you don't want to mess with a number of seemingly cryptic settings. All of its features and settings are optional, and you do not need to pay them any attention if you feel overwhelmed by all these questions, checkboxes, and input boxes.

Nonetheless, familarizing yourself with some of the features can be useful. Here are some of the ones you may want to take a look at:

Editor Type: if you prefer the convenience of a full-fledged WYSIWYG-Editor (similar to your desktop word processor) for typing and editing your postings, or rather a simple textbox without any formatting capabilities instead, select it here.
Customize the way in which threads and messages are displayed to you: linear or threaded, or in a variety of additional ways.
Private Messaging features: The forum lets you communicate with other members "anonymously", i.e. without using "real-world" email addresses and without involving messages to your actual email account. This is highly useful and desirable to protect your privacy and to curb spamming! - Private Messaging can be turned on/off, and you can select how you would like to be notified of arriving messages.

Subscribing to Threads (aka, Emulating the Mailing List)

On every thread you view in any of the forums, you have the option (via the "Thread Tools" button) to subscribe to it and be notified of any new postings by email.

"Subscribed Threads" lets you see the threads you are currently subscribed to and lets you manage your subscriptions.

You can even create folders and use them to manage your subscriptions. This is equal to creating a personalized edition of the entire forum, focussing on just those topics that interets you. Your folders will contain only those contributions from your subscribed threads and fora.

In addition, you can select how you would like to be notified of new postings and other changes in your subscribed threads:

No email notification
Instant notification by email
Daily updates by email
Weekly updates by email

RSS

RSS is a simple technology to transmit "news" headlines to a variety of dedicated devices and clients. It lets you see what's going on a Web site--or forum--without logging into it and even without opening your Web browser.

RSS capability is already integrated in some popular mail clients (e.g., Thunderbird), so RSS news are available very convieniently right alongside your email.

Then there is a large number of commercial and free RSS clients (also referred to as "aggregators") which offer differing degrees of convenience in managing incoming news. We found RSS bandit useful, but there are many others. Google should quickly take you to some of the best and most popular.

And there are online services (e.g. www.bloglines.com) that let you read RSS news online, much like (and often along with) email in a web interface.

All these aggregators require is a simple URL (Web address) from which to fetch the news information. The URL of the ATLAS.ti Forum is:
http://forum.atlasti.com/external.php?type=rss2

Simply copy and paste this URL into your RSS client, and you'll be informed regularly of new discussion topics.

Some Things You Can Do in the Forum...

...That You Couldn't Do in the Mailing List:

Conduct Polls - let other users vote on the issue at hand
Deep Search - search all contributions using detailed criteria
View Other Users' Profiles - read and search other users' profiles, quickly find people with similar interests or other users near you
Organize User and/or Project Groups
Share Attachments - upload / download image files and/or documents in a variety of formats
Accurately Determine Problematic Issues - ATLAS.ti staff can see which topics are the most read and thus determine where there might be a need for additional information and/or technical solutions
and many more

Forum Rules

The following rules are in place to ensure the ATLAS.ti Forum can grow to be a place where peers can learn and share information in a most efficient and pleasant way. By posting to our forum, you accept these rules. Please read and follow them carefully.

Advertising

Advertising or soliciting other members to buy, sell or peruse any products or services through this discussion forum is not permitted. Chain letters and junk mail are also strictly prohibited. Topics/posts that contain this will be edited or deleted. -- We DO allow, and even encourage, notifications of scholarly events and publications, ATLAS.ti.related events, conference announcements, and calls for papers. We do not consider this advertising, but part of scholarly discourse and exchange.

Right to Privacy

You will not violate a person's privacy by publishing information against another member’s will, information that is private and personal. If you violate this rule, your account may be automatically banned without prior warning.

Spamming

Topics/posts that are just complete nonsense will be deleted, or have the entire thread locked, at the moderators discretion. If you violate this rule, your account may be automatically banned without prior warning.

Illegal Activity

Providing or asking for information on how to illegally obtain "warez", "gamez" or any other software or work protected by copyright law is strictly forbidden. If you violate this rule, your account may be automatically banned without prior warning.

Viruses, Malware and Adware

Posting links leading to virii, malware, adware, etc is forbidden. Any violation of this rule, your account will be banned without prior warning and the thread will be edited or deleted accordingly. WARNING TO OTHER USERS: You should be vigilent when clicking on links and exercise the same caution as you would on other sites.

Objectionable Topics, Language, and Behavior

Material that is knowingly defamatory, illegal, abusive, threatening or harassing, is strictly prohibited. As with anything, you, as a member, should use good common sense when posting. In other words, you agree not to be a jerk. Posts containing personal attacks on another user will be edited or deleted with no warning or consent. Topics/posts containing racist, pornographic, or otherwise objectionable text will be edited or deleted. If you violate this rule, your account may be automatically deleted without prior warning.

Problematic Technical Advice

The forum owners (ATLAS.ti GmbH) reserve the right to modify or delete any posting that contains potentially detrimental technical advice from users without warning or asking permission. While we highly appreciate your input and know that everyone does so with the best of intentions when providing advice to others, we also know that sometimes complex technical issues are inadvertedly misrepresented or misunderstood. This could feasibly lead to a situation where another user, basing his/her actions on the erroneous advice rendered, seriously puts in jeopardy their data or their installation of ATLAS.ti. When we become aware of such a case, we will take the liberty to intervene right away in the interest of everybody (including the unfortunate benefactor :).

What should I do if I see objectionable material on the forums?

It is important that members recognize the real-time nature of these forums; the moderators cannot always monitor the contents of posted messages. As such, we depend upon you to inform them when members are violating our rules. You must also recognize that they cannot respond immediately to such notices and that some time may pass before any warranted action is taken.

Cross-posting

We ask that you do not post the same question in more than one forum. If this happens, we reserve the right to determine the most appropriate forum and lock / delete all others.

Signature Size

To keep the page loading time and visual annoyance factor down to a minimum, ensure your graphical signatures do not exceed a maximum of 12,500 pixels or 15 kilobytes file size, whichever is reached first. Alternatively, three lines of text can be used as a signature. Do not pad out your text lines with blanks lines. A line of text is defined such that it does not wrap when viewed at a resolution of 640x480.

If these limits are exceeded then you may be contacted by a moderator requesting an amendmant to your signature. If none is made within a reasonable period of time, then a moderator may remove your signature from your profile.

To contact a moderator use the "Report this post to a moderator" function or send a private message to one of the moderators listed in the Forum Leaders page.

Forum Tips and Suggestions

User Names - We request that you please use your full name, your firstname, or your lastname as your user name when registering. It is very awkward for people to address each other as "Hello 75$@q!w," or "Great point, bunny17." An old-fashioned view perhaps, but we really would like to keep this community somewhat personable.
Use common sense. Anything that you say or do in the forum carries consequences with it -- just like in real life. If you find yourself questioning the nature of what you’re going to post, then it’s probably not safe to post it. Save yourself trouble and everyone else time.
Always be civil and courteous. This forum is visited by people from all over the world of different ages, genders, and races. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Also, see "Objectionable Material" in the Forum Rules.
Make sure that your message topics fit the topic description of the forum that you are posting in. This is for your own benefit - for example, a question regarding an ATLAS.ti problem will get a better (and probably quicker) response from ATLAS.ti Technical Support, than it would in General Discussions.
Use the search function before posting, particularly if the question is problem oriented. Most technical questions have been answered before, and solutions are freely available.
Make sure that you have followed #2 and #5 before posting :)
Read the so-called "sticky" threads (at the top of each forum)- they are there for a reason, and generally contain information relevant to the forum that they are in.
Don't quote the entire message that you're responding to, only the pertinent passage, if quoting is required at all. This makes it easier to read for other users.
Only post pictures when absolutely necessary, and when they are directly relevant to the topic discussion. If the image you are posting is large in size (either pixel size, file size, or both), then please post a link to the picture instead of posting the picture itself. Remember that not everybody has the T3 connection that you are accustomed to, and may have to wait some time for images to load.
Please try to make all your posts in English if at all possible. The ATLAS.ti user community is completely international, and hence a common language is necessary for everyone to participate.
VERY IMPORTANT: Never post your ATLAS.ti serial number in any public area!

Forum "Take Home" Technologies - RSS and Subscriptions

Some people have reservations towards the online forum format and prefer to follow individual online discussions via their mail clients or similar offline technologies. For all those, there is good news: You can conveniently peruse the ATLAS.ti forum and take active part in its discussions without even starting your Web browser! (Well, for the most part anyway.)

The ATLAS.ti forum makes it easy to have all discussion threads that interest you sent right to your email inbox and/or similar offline reading devices. Thread subscriptions plus email notifications, and a full RSS news feed make it easy and convenient to be part of the community without dealing with the technical aspects of the online forum.

Subscribing to Threads (aka, Emulating the Mailing List)

On every thread you view in any of the forums, you have the option (via the "Thread Tools" button) to subscribe to it and be notified of any new postings by email.

"Subscribed Threads" lets you see the threads you are currently subscribed to and lets you manage your subscriptions.

In addition, you can select how you would like to be notified of new postings and other changes in your subscribed threads:

No email notification
Instant notification by email
Daily updates by email
Weekly updates by email

RSS

RSS capability is already integrated in some popular mail clients (e.g., Thunderbird), so RSS news are available very convieniently right alongside your email.

And there are online services (e.g. www.bloglines.com) that let you read RSS news online, much like (and often along with) email in a web interface.

All these aggregators require is a simple URL (Web address) from which to fetch the news information. The URL of the ATLAS.ti Forum is:

http://forum.atlasti.com/external.php?type=rss2

Simply copy and paste this URL into your RSS client, and you'll be informed regularly of new discussion topics.

Some clients (such as RSS Bandit) even allow you to directly reply to individual posts. By clicking on the post heading, the client takes you to that very post in the forum and logs you in (provided that the original login cookie is still available on your machine). You can then write and post your response--and you didn't even have to fire up your Web browser!

In short, RSS is THE technology for all of those users who feel more at home in the world of mailing lists and offline communication.

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